Carr Fire bear continues her 'remarkable recovery'

New skin nearly completely covers the front paws of the Carr Fire bear and she no longer needs fish bandages on her front feet. Her back paws, which were more severely burned in the blaze at Whiskeytown, still required the tilapia-skin treatment.(Photo: California Department of Fish and Wildlife)

So far, so good is the word from state wildlife officials about the young Carr Fire bear whose burned paws they’ve been treating for the past month.

“The little bear burned in the Carr Fire continues her remarkable recovery at CDFW's Wildlife Investigations Lab in Rancho Cordova,” the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a recent Facebook post.

The baby bruin, estimated at 1½ years old, was found Aug 2. by a utility crew beside a creek in the mountains at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area as the Carr Fire was still burning. A CDFW team rescued the animal and she was taken to the state veterinary facility outside Sacramento.

Her caretakers started treating her burned paws with tilapia-skin bandages, an experimental treatment that’s been used before on two burned bears in last year’s Thomas Fire in Southern California.

The young Carr Fire bear continues to recover from burned paws at a state vet facility in Rancho Cordova. Her caretakers' main goal now is to put some pounds on her so she's healthy enough for release.(Photo: California Department of Fish and Wildlife)

The tilapia therapy has worked so well that new skin grew back fairly quickly on the bear’s front paws and she no longer needs her front fish slippers. Her hind paws, however, need more time to mend.

“Her back paws, which were more severely burned, are still being treated with tilapia and are continuing to heal,” agency spokeswoman Kirsten Macintyre said recently.

The plan is to release the yearling back into the wild but first she needs to gain some weight. She’s still weighs about 50 pounds, the same as when she was brought in.

“The bear is recovering very quickly and all signs are positive, so the main goal — other than continued treatments of her burned paws — is putting weight on her,” Macintyre said.

State wildlife veterinarian Dr. Deana Clifford would like the bear to gain 5 to 10 pounds before being released. Clifford and Dr. Jamie Peyton of the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital are overseeing the bear’s care.

Staff members have described the bear as “spunky” and say she'll bluff-charge humans, showing she’s retained her wild instincts.

When she isn’t resting in her hammock, the bear has twice the space to walk around because now her enclosure opens to a second room. Staff members are putting her meals in that other pen to make her roam for exercise. They’re also cutting down on the bear’s pain medication.

“She’s eating everything the veterinary team is giving her, including fish, other meat, berries, nuts and insects,” Macintyre said.

The bear sometimes has to find her food in a pool, which is meant to sharpen her foraging abilities.

Macintyre said a release date hasn’t yet been determined because a few more rounds of treatment on her back paws are needed.

“We’re just taking it one day at a time,” she said. “Veterinarians are very optimistic about releasing her back to the wild when she's ready.”

“When we think we’re getting close, biologists in the Redding area will scout out an appropriate placement spot. We’ll be looking for unburned ground close to where she was found, with a water source and potential food and forage items nearby,” Macintyre said.